blora'l*®''- 


CoVt\  VVi  '«'H’fiC 

Jj^OY  44*6  U.S.A. 


DT57 

.E35 


i 


/ 

y 

EGYPT  EXPLORATION 


REPORT  OF  THE  COM- 
MITTEE FOR  THE  UNITED 
STATES  OF  AMERICA 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/reportofcommitteOOegyp 


REPORT. 


In  October,  1902,  at  the  request  of  the  London  Com- 
mittee of  the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund  and  by  their  author- 
ity, the  undersigned  organized  themselves  as  a Committee 
to  take  charge  of  the  interests  of  the  Fund  in  the  United 
States  of  America,  so  far  as  these  interests  were  in  the 
control  of  the  Boston  Office.  The  Committee  appointed 
Professor  Goodwin  its  Chairman  and  Mr.  Lodge  its  Secre- 
tary. The  Boston  Office  has  previously  been  in  charge  of 
an  Honorary  Secretary  and  Honorary  Treasurer  and  a paid 
Secretary  ; but  for  more  than  four  months  before  the  organ- 
ization of  the  present  Committee  the  office  has  been  rep- 
resented only  by  the  Honorary  Treasurer,  Mr.  Francis  C. 
Foster,  who  kindly  consented,  at  our  earnest  request  and 
that  of  the  London  Committee,  though  at  great  personal 
inconvenience,  to  remain  our  Treasurer  for  a short  time. 
At  his  request  he  was  not  made  a member  of  the  Com- 
mittee. This  temporary  service,  for  which  we  are  under 
the  greatest  obligation  to  Mr.  Foster,  ended  on  March  30, 
when  Mr.  Lane  was  chosen  Treasurer. 

The  first  public  official  notice  of  the  reorganization  of 
the  Boston  Office  was  given  by  the  President  of  the  Fund, 
Sir  John  Evans,  in  his  annual  address  in  London,  Novem- 
ber 7,  1902,  when  he  spoke  of  “the  earnest  and  anxious 
consideration  which  the  London  Committee  had  given  for 
several  months  to  the  organization  of  the  Fund  in  Boston,” 
resulting  in  the  constitution  of  “ a local  committee  under 
whose  charge  we  may  hope  that  the  affairs  of  the  Fund 
in  Boston  will  prosper,  and  that  the  office  in  that  city  will 
be  regarded,  as  heretofore,  as  the  headquarters  of  the 


4 


REPORT. 


Fund  in  the  United  States.”  Still  later,  but  after  the 
organization  of  our  committee  was  completed,  the  London 
Committee  expressed  to  us  their  wash  that  we  should  take 
the  title  of  “The  Committee  for  the  United  States  of 
America,”  and  that  our  Treasurer  and  Secretary'  should  be 
the  Honorary  Treasurer  and  Honorary  Secretary  for  the 
United  States.  This  action  imposes  on  us  new  responsi- 
bilities w'hich  we  did  not  contemplate  when  we  assumed 
office  a year  ago ; and  it  becomes  one  of  our  most  urgent 
duties  to  take  steps  ^to  give  our  Committee  a more  national 
character,  that  it  may  include  a representation  of  the 
friends  and  supporters  of  the  Fund  in  other  parts  of 
the  countr)’.  We  have  already  given  much  attention  to 
this  important  object,  which  we  hope  will  soon  produce 
substantial  results. 

Our  present  Committee,  organized  as  a “ local  commit- 
tee,” is  confined  to  New  England,  chiefly  to  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Boston.  Two  of  our  number,  Messrs.  Davis  and 
Lythgoe,  were  absent  during  the  greater  part  of  the  past 
year ; but  they  were  actively  engaged  in  w'ork  of  explora- 
tion in  Egypt,  which  they  are  to  continue  during  the  winter 
and  spring.  They  had  an  opportunity  of  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  the  important  work  which  Professor  Petrie 
was  directing  in  the  interest  of  the  Fund,  of  which  we 
already  have  valuable  results  in  various  museums  in  this 
country. 

When  we  organized  our  Committee  a year  ago  there 
v.'ere  three  affiliated  branches  to  which  the  Fund  in  past 
years  had  been  deeply  indebted  for  liberal  contributions 
and  friendly  cooperation.  One  of  these,  the  Connecticut 
Branch  of  the  Fund,  under  the  presidency  of  Rev.  Charles 
Ray  Palmer,  D.D.,  of  New  Haven,  still  remains  in  active 
operation,  in  the  most  cordial  relation  with  our  Committee. 


REPORT. 


5 


We  value  greatly  the  advantage  of  so  energetic  and  influ- 
ential a society  working  for  the  Fund  at  an  important 
literary  centre.  The  Chicago  Society  of  Egyptian  Re- 
search, in  which  our  vice-president,  Mr.  Hutchinson,  and 
Professor  J.  H.  Breasted  have  been  actively  conspicuous, 
has  given  up  its  independent  organization  ; and  the  Amer- 
ican Exploration  Society  of  Pennsylvania,  of  which  Mr. 
Calvin  Wells,  of  Pittsburg,  and  Mrs.  Cornelius  Stevenson, 
of  Philadelphia,  are  energetic  members,  has  withdrawn 
from  Eg)^ptian  work.  From  both  of  these  associations  we 
have  the  most  cordial  assurances  of  interest  in  the  future 
work  of  the  Fund  under  our  Committee. 

We  have  also  addressed  the  local  Honorary  Secretaries 
in  various  places,  asking  their  continued  support  and  co- 
operation in  our  work,  and  expressing  our  wish  that  they 
should  remain  in  office.  We  have  received  assurances  of 
interest  and  of  willingness  to  help  us  from  the  greater  part 
of  these.  Our  warmest  thanks  are  due  to  our  friends  in 
all  parts  of  the  country  who  have  encouraged  us  during 
the  first  year  of  our  work  for  the  Fund  by  their  liberal 
subscriptions  and  by  their  general  interest  in  our  success. 

We  have  appointed  our  countryman.  Professor  Louis 
Dyer,  formerly  of  Harvard  University,  now  resident  in 
Oxford,  the  official  representative  of  the  United  States 
on  the  London  Committee,  of  which  he  is  a member. 
One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  our  London  repre- 
sentative is  connected  with  the  annual  distiibution  of  the 
antiquities  obtained  from  various  excavations  conducted 
by  the  Fund  in  Egypt.  At  Professor  Dyer’s  request.  Pro- 
fessor Thomas  Day  Seymour,  of  Yale  University,  was 
appointed  to  assist  him  in  this  work  last  July.  As  the 
contributions  for  the  United  States  during  the  previous  two 
years  had  been  nearly  equal  to  those  received  from  all 


6 


REPORT. 


the  British  possessions,  a full  half  of  this  year’s  collection 
was  given  to  this  country.  These  objects  were  awarded 
to  the  Museums  of  Boston,  New  York,  Chicago,  New 
Haven,  Philadelphia,  and  Pittsburg,  in  proportion  to  their 
contributions  to  the  Fund.  The  division  was  made  with 
great  care,  after  long  deliberation,  chiefly  by  Professor 
Petrie,  with  the  advice  of  Professors  Dyer  and  Seymour, 
who  both  express  their  high  appreciation  of  the  generous 
spirit  shown  by  the  English  members  of  the  Committee, 
who  strove  to  be  absolutely  fair,  and  to  give  the  American 
Museums  their  full  share  of  the  antiquities. 

Boston,  December,  1903. 


P.  S.  — We  are  able  to  add  to  our  Report  the  follow- 
ing account  of  the  work  which  is  to  be  carried  on  by  the 
Fund  in  Egypt  during  the  present  season,  which  we  have 
just  received  from  the  London  Committee  : — 

Professor  Elinders  Petrie,  having  failed  in  an  attempt 
to  secure  a more  favorable  site  for  this  winter’s  work,  is 
now  exploring  Ahnas-el-Medineh,  the  ancient  Heracleo- 
polis  Magna,  where  in  1903  M.  Edouard  Naville  carried  on 
extensive  excavations.  This  city,  which  was  the  capital 
of  the  Nome  Heracleotes  in  Middle  Egypt,  was  of  great 


REPORT. 


7 


antiquity  ; and,  according  to  Manetho,  it  furnished  two 
dynasties  of  kings,  the  ninth  and  the  tenth,  to  Egypt.  In 
the  neighborhood  are  other  important  sites,  and  we  may 
hope  that  this  season’s  work  will  not  only  greatly  increase 
our  historical  knowledge,  but  will  also  furnish  us  with  a 
goodly  supply  of  objects  of  interest  to  enrich  our  Mu- 
seums. The  excavations  are  already  in  progress,  and  we 
hear  from  London  that  these  are  attended  with  success. 

At  Deir-el-Bahari  M.  Edouard  Naville  is  excavating  for 
the  Fund,  and  is  clearing  the  necropolis  at  the  side  of  the 
temple  of  Queen  Hatshepsu.  He  has  found  there  traces 
of  a still  older  temple,  which  appears  to  have  been  de- 
stroyed when  the  later  temple  was  built,  and  its  ground 
was  used  for  the  necropolis.  We  shall  await  with  interest 
the  further  revelations  which  M.  Naville’s  work  may 
make. 

The  work  to  be  carried  on  in  Egypt  by  another  impor- 
tant department  of  the  Fund,  the  Graeco- Roman  Branch, 
holds  out  equal  promise  for  the  coming  year.  This  branch 
was  established  in  1897,  consequent  on  the  finding  by 
Drs.  B.  P.  Grenfell  and  A.  S.  Hunt  of  a large  collection 
of  Greek  papyri  at  Oxyrhynchus,  for  the  discovery  and 
publication  of  remains  of  classical  antiquity  and  early 
Christianity  in  Egypt.  Its  first  work  was  to  publish  the 
Oxyrhynchus  papyri,  of  which  two  volumes,  containing 
many  important  classical  and  theological  texts,  were  is- 
sued in  1898  and  1899,  and  the  third  is  just  published. 
In  the  winter  of  1898-99  Drs.  Grenfell  and  Hunt  con- 
ducted excavations  for  the  Graeco-Roman  Branch  in  the 
Fayum,  the  results  of  which  were  published  in  “ Fayum 
Towns  and  their  Papyri  ” ; while  in  1899-1900  they  ex- 
cavated at  Tebtunis,  in  the  Fayum,  on  behalf  of  the 
University  of  California.  Since  1900  Drs.  Grenfell  and 


8 


REPORT. 


Hunt  have  excavated  each  winter  on  behalf  of  the  Graeco- 
Roman  Branch,  — in  1900-01  in  the  Fayum,  in  1901—02 
both  there  and  at  Hibeh,  and  in  1902-03  returning  once 
more  to  Oxyrhynchus  with  the  special  object  of  making 
further  discoveries  of  theological  texts.  The  success  of 
their  second  excavation  at  Oxyrhynchus  has  been  not  less 
striking  than  that  of  their  first,  for  not  only  were  docu- 
ments of  the  first  four  centuries  after  the  Christian  era 
very  numerous,  but  the  site  was  found  to  be  strewn  with 
the  debris  of  libraries  of  classical  and  theological  writings. 

It  is  now  evident  from  the  success  which  attended  the 
clearance  of  a part  of  the  ground  last  spring  that, 
although  Oxyrhynchus  has  already  proved  by  far  the 
best  site  in  Egypt  for  classical  and  theological  pap)Ti,  it 
still  affords  very  great  chances  for  discoveries  of  equal  or 
even  greater  importance.  The  recent  discovery  in  Egypt 
of  the  poems  of  Bacchylides  and  of  Aristotle’s  “ Consti- 
tution of  Athens  ” shows  that  nothing  is  too  important  to 
be  expected.  Drs.  Grenfell  and  Hunt  estimate  that  at 
least  the  work  of  two  seasons,  each  costing  about  $3,000, 
will  be  required  to  exhaust  the  more  promising  portions  of 
this  site ; and  it  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  any  new 
field  will  prove  so  fruitful  in  discoveries. 

It  would  be  extremely  regrettable  if  a work  which  has 
already  yielded  such  fruitful  results  and  carries  such  pos- 
sibilities for  the  future  should  be  interrupted  through  lack 
of  funds,  and  the  committees  of  the  Egypt  Exploration 
Fund,  both  in  London  and  in  America,  have  therefore 
resolved  to  make  a special  appeal  for  increased  support 
of  the  Graeco-Roman  Branch.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  papjTi  found  in  each  year  are  distributed  to  various 
places  in  proportion  to  their  contributions  to  this  Branch 
of  the  Fund. 


REPORT. 


9 


The  annual  subscription  to  each  branch  of  the  Fund, 
entitling  the  subscriber  to  the  Memoir  of  the  year,  is  $5.00  ; 
that  of  a Patron  of  the  Fund  is  $25.00;  a single  payment 
of  $125.00  makes  the  subscriber  a Life  Member.  Checks 
should  be  made  payable  to  the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund, 
and  enclosed  to  the  Secretary,  John  Ellerton  Lodge,  Esq., 
8 Beacon  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

WILLIAM  W.  GOODWIN, 

Chairman. 

GARDINER  M.  LANE, 

Treasurer. 

JOHN  ELLERTON  LODGE, 

Secretary. 

THEODORE  M.  DAVIS. 

THORNTON  K.  LOTHROP. 

ALBERT  M.  LYTHGOE. 

EDWARD  ROBINSON. 


ABSTRACT  OF  ACCOUNTS  OF  THE  BOSTON  OFFICE 
OF  THE  EGYPT  EXPLORATION  FUND. 


10 


REPORT. 


© 


VO 

d 

m 

M 


N O Gv  Tf  O 
Tj-  lo  VO  O Ov 

6 00  d d « 

TT  r>«.  CN  ON  O ON 

T}-  M VO 


O 

ON 

On 

ro 

rj- 


rs. 


O 

o> 


o 

o\ 


■£  S 
E 


c 

o 

T5 

c 

o 

H-} 


d 


^ C 

01)  ^ d 
C bO  S 


j£U—4).5ot««C^ 

-=<no:::<i^d 

OW  UPnCH^OiM 


w 

d 

o« 


lO 

o 

u 

d 

s 

E 

o 

b< 


o 

q 


T3 

S 

d 

X 

c 

0) 

u 

p 

*d 


VO  O ^ M 

O o 


N-  to  VO 
to  o O to 
Cv  M w 


to  M M 


H-t  > C 

c b d 

5 3 t- 

.2  C/3 


O .3  c . 
•P  bO  ^ 

« -2 

Ld  O *T  4-» 

0)  o ^ 
■je  d u 
Q-  <u  »;? 

^ y -2 

w < o £ 


GARDINER  M.  LANE,  Treasurer. 


r 


